John Carroll had a day off yesterday. After the dramatic manner in which both of its games ended today, they may need another.

Plays at the plate decided both, as the Blue Streaks triumphed over Aurora, 4-3, and Johnson & Wales, 6-5, in a pair of games staged at the National Training Center complex in Clermont, Florida.

In the opener, Aurora and John Carroll played a game that featured back-and-forth momentum swings. Aurora scored in the top of the first, only to have Ally Kleinhans answer with an RBI double in the bottom of the first.

Aurora scored again in the second to take a 2-1 lead, but the Blue Streaks responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth when Alyssa Coleman and Carly Simecek had RBI hits to put John Carroll back on top.

Just as soon as JCU had seized momentum, it was taken away by Aurora in the top of the fifth with a single tally on a sacrifice fly.

The game remained deadlocked at 3-3 until the bottom of the seventh. Simecek led off with a walk, and then, with one out, Christie Wade singled. 

With two outs, pinch hitter Angie Zappitelli came through with a huge single to keep the inning alive and load the bases.

Simecek then came through with a heads up play to win the game. Putting pressure on the Aurora battery, a ball got away from the catcher and Simecek rushed home plate to score the winning run.

Coleman, Simecek and Victoria Eder each had two hits for the Blue Streaks, who matched the Spartans with ten hits.

Rachel Byrnes, the reigning OAC Pitcher of the Week, went the distance and improved to 3-0. She allowed three runs on ten hits, striking out three and walking two.

The second game of the day offered equal drama, as the Blue Streaks rallied for a come-from-behind victory.

John Carroll actually started out the game in front, as Simecek blasted a three-run home run in the first inning for a 3-0 lead.

The Wildcats from Johnson & Wales, however, quickly turned the tables. A grand slam in the bottom of the second put the "home" team up, 5-3.

JCU still trailed by a pair of runs entering the fifth inning when Hannah Mizener came through with a home run to cut the deficit to 5-4, after which Wade tied the game with a two-out RBI single.

Ann Marie Kirchner pitched out of a number of jams and forced the game to go to extra innings, where the international tiebreaker rule was imposed.

Neither team could push across a runner from third in the eighth, setting up high drama in the ninth.

Lauren Cianciolo was placed on second to start the frame, and Mizener bunted her over to third. Coleman delivered a one-out RBI single to give JCU its first lead since the second inning at 6-5.

With a one-run cushion, Kirchner was asked to lock down the win. Johnson & Wales sacrificed its runner from second to third, just as the Blue Streaks had. But with two outs, in eerily similar fashion as the first game, a ball got away from the catcher. In this case, however, Simecek was able to retrieve the ball quickly and tagged out the potential tying run at the plate to end the game.

Kirchner pitched eight solid innings of releif, allowing zero runs and three hits while striking out five to improve to 2-1.

The victory was John Carroll's fifth consecutive on the tip, and put the team's record at 5-1 with four games left to play in the Sunshine State.